The infinity dungeon 210

Chapter 210

The swirling dark mass approached, a calamity of spiral lightning and black clouds that had broken into Michael’s inner space and was now making a beeline straight for the source of his magic.

Nothing remained in its wake. The asteroid it had swallowed up was simply gone, and Michael dared not think about how many things the mass had eaten that he still had not discovered, and that now he would never discover.

He rushed to meet the thing before it could get any closer. Before its gigantic size, he was nothing more than an ant, an insignificant existence that the mass neither noticed nor acknowledged. It loomed closer and closer, not slowing down nor reacting to his presence in the slightest, as if it didn’t even care that he was the lord of this place.

As if it did not even matter.

Michael was going to show the interloper how wrong it was. He seized his magic, taking command of the space surrounding the dark mass of dust and cloud, power radiating out of him like a miniature sun.

Batteries emptied. Silver mana rushed to him. The thick energies were enough to finally pique the interest of the mindless spiral pattern that sought to eat and consume and grow. It lit up, commanding the thunderous mass to eat the source of so much magic, but it was too late.

Space became ablaze with energy all around it. The energy gave the space power, and the space squeezed. The cloud-mass did not notice, wholly focused on Michael in search of its next meal. It reached the edge of space Michael had commanded into stillness, slamming into it and slowing down like it was wading through molasses.

More and more of the cloud followed, propelled by its own momentum and urgency. As it reached the slow-space that forced it into stillness, it shrunk and flattened, becoming a wafer, a cross-section of how it had looked before. A two-dimensional rendition of the thundercloud, an X-ray sheet with its spiral pattern clearly visible.

It realized its own predicament, the spiral brightening, but the space forced the mass of cloud into motionlessness, and the spiral could not consume what it did not touch. Space itself was empty, and the truth of stillness was out of the spiral’s reach.

Michael grinned. “That’s another bother taken care of,” he muttered. He planned to tear the cloud apart as soon as his other issues were fixed, and take its power for himself.

He turned to leave, making a beeline for his base and noticing the stash of materials Icarus had processed while he was exploring the surface of Johanne’s world. Realizing that keeping the cloud mass and the spiral contained was tapping deep into his mana reserves, which were running low, he decided to build some more collectors and batteries in a hurry.

The materials flew, a river of metals and concrete flowing into blueprints under his and Icarus’ direction. Collectors and batteries popped into being, their energy strengthening the laser beam of magic feeding the cage of stillness that kept the interloper contained. Eventually the cloud and the spiral were surrounded by a blue glow of magic and a proto-truth of the inner world Michael was building.

Returning to the real world, Michael tried to orient himself. A poster on the wall reminded him that he had crawled back to the concrete building deep in the jungle while under attack from the mass. Up above, etched in the cavern’s ceiling, a huge spiral pattern told him that he wasn’t too far away from the center he was trying to reach.

“Michael,” Icarus’ worried voice reached his ears, “the mass is moving again.”

Cursing, Michael sat back on the damp ground and projected his consciousness inwards. Indeed, from his base he could see that the blue shimmer surrounding the mass had almost vanished; it was only now returning to its bright, energetic color, almost as if his presence was required for it to function.

Suddenly, he remembered what Lloyd Cromwell had told him back in the domed city. The old man’s hologram had warned him not to poke at the dangerous things inside his inner space unless he had ways to handle them within the rules of the magic system he was building.

He looked at the mass, trapped by a shimmering field of blue. From a distance, it looked like a futuristic shield surrounding the thing, but Michael knew that it was no shield. It was just the manifestation of his will through the magic he commanded.

Except, his magic system was one of technology and machines. In order to achieve effects without him being present, he needed to build something that could emulate what he could achieve with his will.

There was no such thing around the mass. It made sense that once he left, his will quickly faded and the mass became free once again.

He shook his head. He had used all the mined resources to build more collectors and batteries. He would have to mine some more and then create a blueprint for a machine that could keep the mass at bay, at least for a while.

He began drafting designs, feeling the flow of time like sand slipping through his fingers. He was deeply aware that time was ticking, but there was no other way. He could do it, though. He had to. There was no other way.

The echo of something reached his ears. It was a soft voice, melodious yet filled with pain. It reverberated in the strange still nothingness of the inner space like a caress, everywhere and nowhere.

“What was it?” asked Michael.

“I don’t know,” Icarus said. Then, the AI had a revelation as he analysed the data. “I think they were words!”

Michael stopped what he was doing. Even though he was just consciousness, he had the impression of getting up from sitting, and of looking around. “Please…” came the distant voice again.

“There!” he said.

Icarus was also listening, “I can augment the signal. Here, I recorded it.”

Michael played it from the strange futuristic interface he saw whenever Icarus meddled with magic.

“Please,” the voice was now much clearer. It was Infy’s. “I am dying. Please hurry…”

Back in the real world, Michael’s eyes shot open. He barged out of the building, entering the damp forest.

“Michael, the mass is moving again.” Icarus informed him.

“I don’t care,” Michael growled, “we don’t have time.”

“You won’t make it,” the AI said. Michael was about to tell him to shut up, when Icarus projected a view of the inner space in Michael’s vision. “It’s almost at the collectors, Michael!”

“FUCK!” Michael yelled at the uncaring forest. Up above, the spiral etched in the ceiling glowed.

He re-entered the inner space with the force of a hurricane.

“You know what?” he said, anger slipping into his voice, agitating his very being and the magic around him. The spatial ring on his finger glowed, and the Force Lance appeared.

“It didn’t work last time, Michael,” Icarus said.

“I don’t need it to.”

Magic surged. Michael pulled his hands apart, and the weapon likewise came apart, every piece making up its design now floating feet away from each other. At the center, a glowing core of energy was brighter than the sun itself.

The mass pivoted, sensing the much more powerful magic.

“You like this, don’t you?” taunted Michael. He weaved the energy into a cage surrounding the mass. It did not follow his magic system, but the magic of the Force Lance was powerful enough that it could bend the rules however it wanted. “See if you can free yourself when I use Demiurge Particles to cage you.”

The shimmering field around the mass became solid, chunks of Demiurge Particles etching themselves into it and projecting their energy in interlocking triangles that were impenetrable to all senses. Michael could not peer inside even if he wanted, but he didn’t have time to marvel at his handiwork.

Returning to the real world, Icarus confirmed that the mass was still trapped even without Michael’s will there to keep the magic running.

The center of the forest called. It was a center of gravity, the eye of the storm of magic inside the gigantic cave. Reaching it was as easy as letting water carry a leaf down some rapids. Michael did not arrive there unharmed, pulses of magic hitting him with pain worse than being electrocuted, sapping his energy and his mana, but he endured.

He arrived quickly, however.

The Renegade was also there, but Michael paid the man no mind. His attention was completely focused on the gigantic device at the center of the clearing, resting atop a pedestal of dark stone etched with the same spiral that had contaminated every inch of this damned place.

The device keeping Infy, the dungeon spirit, alive, if barely.

Inner Space sheet (chapter 210)

If you’re feeling nerdy.